Mobile data usage has been increasing at an exponential rate in recent year. A Long-Term Evolution (LTE) system offers high peak data rates, low latency, improved system capacity, and low operating cost resulting from simplified network architecture. In LTE systems, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) includes a plurality of base stations, such as evolved Node-B's (eNBs) communicating with a plurality of mobile stations referred as user equipment (UEs). However, the continuously rising demand for data traffic requires additional solutions. Interworking between the LTE network and the unlicensed spectrum WLAN provides additional bandwidth to the operators.
The current approaches of interworking of LTE and WLAN suffer from various limitations that hamper the benefits of LTE-WLAN interworking. For example, core network approaches like ANDSF provide rich support for implementing operator policy, providing subscriber specific service, and enabling different kinds of WLAN deployment (e.g., trusted and non-trusted WLANs). However, the core network approaches suffer from significant performance shortcomings. These approaches are unable to react to dynamically varying radio conditions and do not permit aggregation of IP flows over LTE and WLAN access. Some of these limitations have been addressed 3GPP on RAN assisted 3GPP/WLAN interworking (IWK). While the RAN assisted IWK feature promises to improve Quality of Experience (QoE) and network utilization, it is also limited by the inability to aggregate IP flows as well as support of limited traffic granularity at the PDN level.
A potential solution to more fully reap the benefits of LTE-WLAN interworking is to allow LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA) by integrating the protocol stacks of LTE and WLAN systems. The LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA) provides data aggregation at the radio access network where an eNB schedules packets to be served on LTE and Wi-Fi radio link. The advantage of this solution is that LWA can provide better control and utilization of resources on both links. LWA can increase the aggregate throughput for all users and improve the total system capacity by better managing the radio resources among users.
In previous work on carrier aggregation and dual connectivity, 3GPP has explored similar integrated architectures for MAC and PDCP layer, respectively. In the case of LTE and WLAN interworking, such integration is made challenging by the fact that these technologies are distinct, and that there is a large deployed base of WLAN access points and access categories (AP/ACs) that need to seamlessly work with any proposed interworking solution. More specifically, how the cellular (LTE) network can configure, manage, and control the QoS levels experienced by data flows that are carried over LWA access needs to be addressed.